


Sixty Seconds For Asuka and Shinji

by BrokenChosenofEva



Series: Moments in Time [3]
Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 09:45:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6606127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrokenChosenofEva/pseuds/BrokenChosenofEva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sixty seconds, sixty moments in their lives that remain with them til the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crash so Precious

001\. Crash  
When Shinji crashed out of the Cages and reached the surface, only to find Asuka defeated and torn apart by the MP-EVAs, the spark of defiance in him died a painful, screaming death just as Asuka had.

002\. Dim  
Everything around Asuka was dim; the sky, the ground, the very air she breathed the same foggy shade of orange as she hung in the infinite expanse of Instrumentality before it swallowed her into its illusions of perfection.

003\. Futile  
Asuka watched Shinji catch and attempt to hold Sahaquiel, and as she charged up to help him so Rei could kill it and she took some of the weight from him she momentarily thought it would all be futile as she felt the intense stress now placed upon her.

004\. Erratic  
It frustrated him how erratic Asuka behaved, one moment friendly and -dare he think it- flirty, and the next a demon like his friends always called her, violent and angry towards any little perceived failure on his part.

005\. Loved  
Stepping passed the caution tape that was a pitiful attempt at blocking others from reaching Asuka, Shinji dug deep for every ounce of courage he ever possessed as he wrapped his arms around the shaking redhead and tried to show through actions that she was loved.

006\. Soft  
Asuka curled up against the sleeping Third Child, knowing he was asleep and that she would have to get up earlier than even his early-rising habit to avoid questions she didn't even want to ask herself.

007\. Hold  
Asuka held on to Shinji's umbilical cable with all her might, terrified herself -though she'd never admit it- by the calls for help coming from the boy she considered Rival, Ally, and Friend all at once.

008\. Shackles  
Asuka felt the shackles around her wrists to be rather silly considering she didn't have any fight left in her after disobeying orders to help Shinji rescue his friend from Unit-Three only to find the boy crippled, all their efforts and skill wasted.

009\. Broken  
From inside Instrumentality Asuka watched Shinji -broken, caring Shinji- call out for even one person to love him, and after a final attempt at defiance she admitted she would be that person and stepped up to him.

010\. Precious  
Every second was precious, Shinji thought, every moment spent just another memory that you had to live with good or bad, and turning he found Asuka mirroring his thoughtful, hopeful expression as they took hold of the energies of Third Impact given to Shinji by Lilith and collapsed the apocalypse.


	2. Chapter 2

011\. Odds and Ends  
In her rage Asuka stormed into Shinji's room a week after he disappeared into Unit-One after defeating Zeruel, but upon opening the door she paused, glancing at the few odds and ends around the small space, her rage instantly cooled at how empty the room felt around her, and soon found herself asleep in his bed with her tears soaking the pillow.

012\. Tea  
Sitting at the table, a cup of tea in her hands while Shinji mirrored her from his place opposite her, Asuka found a moment of peace in the simple, familiar seen after his recovery from inside Unit-One.

013\. Twisted  
Watching Unit-One escape Leliel, the monstrous and twisted visage roaring to the sky, Asuka shivered in her throne inside the entryplug as she wondered just what it was that they Piloted against the Angels.

014\. Echo  
Shinji sat inside Unit-One, trapped inside Leliel, wondering what his friends -what Asuka- must be feeling, hoping they wouldn't miss him too much and could continue on without him, but also hoping they would rescue him, and felt an echo of hope from deep inside the EVA as his vision faded.

015\. Soothe  
It was an odd position for him, being the one to comfort instead of seeking comfort, especially when Asuka was the one he was soothing as she cried quietly into his shoulder over her falling synch-score.

016\. Fight  
Working together with Asuka, in-synch with her as they fought Israfel, Shinji thought he could understand why she loved the thrill of combat, and maybe why she was such an aggressive, competitive person both in EVA and otherwise.

017\. Naked  
While Shinji found he didn't really care -aside from basic modesty- if he was naked for this special synch test, the amount of respect he had for Asuka as a woman and a Pilot meant he stepped from his decontamination booth into the sanitized corridor before either of the female Pilots left theirs and kept his eyes locked on the door at the end even as he felt his cheeks and ears burning from embarrassment.

018\. Push  
Asuka sighed in frustration at Shinji as the boy struggled visibly with another homework assignment, recalling the last time she'd tried to help him -and, if she was honest, impress him- and blushed at the memory of her forwardness, then stood and moved to help him feeling the need to push him to be her equal, to be the best like her.

019\. Alive  
Cheering, Asuka wrapped Shinji in a hug before she could think about it, happy to be alive beside him after the harrowing close-call with Sahaquiel, pulling back only when he made a small noise of protest and she noticed how he carefully didn't move his arms and winced in pain when they shifted.

020\. New  
Asuka took a deep breath, savoring the sensation as she felt Shinji move beside her, sitting up when he did and looking at him with new eyes after what she'd seen inside Instrumentality, and seeing the change in his return gaze under the blood red sky.


	3. Born Graceful

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up til now, the Sentences have occurred within the series. Moments largely hidden off camera. Now we'll see moments from post-Third Impact.

021\. Born  
Shinji didn't think he could smile any bigger as he watched Asuka hold their daughter, Mana, but he knew his smile was out shone by the one on her face as she turned to look at him and offered to let him hold the tiny newborn.

022\. Murmur  
Shinji listened to Asuka murmur in her sleep, at once terrified by her presence and soothed by the content and happy tone to her barely audible utterances, and decided to accept her close proximity this final night before they faced Israfel.

023\. Devious  
The thought blindsided him one afternoon when Asuka had convinced Misato to allow them to head to the arcade instead of completing homework -her excuse being Pilot Bonding and socializing with others their age- that she was not only competitive but devious when she set her mind to something, and it made him wonder about how she treated him.

024\. Isolation  
Asuka had never felt more isolated than while Shinji was trapped in his EVA, often sleeping in the boy's bed and taking in his lingering scent as it began to mix with hers the longer she slept there in an attempt to drive off the loneliness, and hating herself for having become so dependent on his presence.

025\. Starve  
Shinji imagined it was like starving, this need to be near the fiery redhead yet being terrified of approaching her, and the small moments where she let him close where like banquets.

026\. Breakable  
He never imagined how fragile Asuka was, knowing how she hated weakness, until he found her sitting on the pavement after Arael, her body shaking as she visibly fell apart, and only then did he realize she was as breakable as he.

027\. Winter  
Asuka hated winter, the cooler weather reminded her of how cold she had felt inside before Shinji had begun to fill that space in her heart she had fought to ignore, and even as she and Shinji watched their children play in the snow she had to push down that old hurt and smile for them.

028\. Ignore  
She'd spent her whole life ignoring the part of her that wanted -needed- affection, even through every quiet moment with Shinji, but she began to relent after the visions Arael gave and Shinji's comforting, and with the lives she'd seen within Instrumentality she finally opened up and accepted her own affections for the boy.

029\. Colour  
Asuka examined the faint discolouration of each scar left by the attacks of the MP-EVAs, flinching as she drew her fingers along each mark, but when Shinji looked at her she could see in his eyes that all he saw was perfection.

030\. Grace  
Shinji marveled at the grace and power in Asuka's movements as they trained against the simulated Angels, how she leapt, dodged, and defeated each in-turn cleanly and efficiently, just as she'd boasted months ago on the beach as they faced Israfel.


	4. Belong or Good-Riddance

031\. Belong  
When Asuka stepped back into the apartment -after spending a week at Hikari buried in her own depression after the fight with Armasael- and smelled Shinji's cooking she had never felt more at home, that she actually belonged somewhere, and immediately moved silently into the kitchen/dining area to watch the boy undisturbed as he hummed softly to himself.

032\. Choke  
Asuka watched Shinji hang above her, his nimble fingers wrapped around her slim neck, and thought back over her time in Tokyo-3 to all the times she could have let him close, the moments she could have offered peace instead of aggression, the split-second decisions where she could have accepted his open hand but slapped it away, and the only thing she could think to do was raise her hand and lay it gently to his cheek in a silent request for forgiveness.

033\. Reach  
Shinji watched as Asuka bolted from the apartment after Rei's performance on the dance mat, and didn't even register Hikari's command to go after her as he took off, and upon finding her in the back of the convenience store he simply offered his hand, reaching for her and silently asking her to reach back.

034\. Difficult  
Seeing Asuka's life laid out before him, just as he knew his own life was set before her, Shinji thought he could begin to understand why she was always so difficult, why she pushed others away and fought so hard to be the best.

035\. Heat  
The heat and humidity of Japan's summer in Tokyo-3 was stifling, and many students opted to have lunch out in the courtyard instead of the enclosed classroom, but since their synch-training Asuka always took to the roof and enjoyed the quiet company of Shinji as they ate the bentos he had prepared the evening before.

036\. Veneer  
Asuka watched as the crews returned her Unit-Two back into its Cage after Shinji's fight with it while it was under the control of Kaworu, soberly eyeing the tarnished veneer as she wished she'd been able to take his place and make the killing blow, wishing she could have taken the burden of killing from him.

037\. Fall  
The pain in her eye wasn't enough to drown out the feeling of falling as her EVA lost power and fell back, and as she screamed she prayed that Shinji would catch her just one more time.  
038\. Nightmare  
He bolted upright, confused only a moment as he instantly picked up Asuka's whimpers and sobs from beside him in their bed, and turned to pull her into his arms as she pulled herself out of the nightmares that plagued her since Third Impact.

039\. Contagious  
In the week since Shinji had returned from inside Unit-One Asuka had watched him for any contamination as Misato had asked, keeping her distance in case of contagion, but hearing him humming like always and still no odd signs to show for all her observation made her too frustrated to listen any longer, and so she stood abruptly and spun him around for a kiss she felt was long overdue.

040\. Good Riddance  
Asuka looked down into the Geofront from her place beside Shinji, spotting the torn-apart remains of her EVA, and with a huff she thought "good riddance" to that painful, torturous part of her life.


	5. Goodbye Camping

041\. Goodbye  
Asuka followed Hikari and Kensuke to the marker, Shinji beside her, and after allowing the other two a moment in front of Touji's grave she stepped up to it with her companion right behind her, laying a small bundle of yellow roses next to Hikari's red rose and giving a silent apology for being so late.

042\. Scarred  
She had accepted that her physical marks were -as the saying went- 'only skin deep' and reflected more her survival than anything else, but the memories and nightmares were another kind of scar she had yet to move passed.

043\. Last Dance  
It was her last great dance, it was to be her funeral pyre of violence and victory at any cost, the blood of her enemies coating her even as she fell dying on the last corpse, and she reveled in the rush, the unique and terrifying freedom that violence of action brought every time she Piloted her EVA.

044\. Burn  
Asuka refused to meet Shinji's gaze, the amused grin on his face almost more than she could take as he worked to save what he could of the breakfast she had been making while he slept, the blush burning on her cheeks even as she slowly accepted how amusing the situation was.

045\. Steady  
"Going steady", as some of her friends in college had described her relationship with Shinji, was so inadequate for explaining the connection she had with the man who had survived ground-zero of the apocalypse with her.

046\. Monster  
Sometimes, in the years after the Siege of NERV, Asuka wondered if Shinji thought of her as a monster for what she'd done to the attacking JSSDF and how she'd enjoyed the rush of fighting even such outmatched opponents.

047\. Voodoo  
Shinji occasionally wondered if Asuka knew the power she held over him, not from her aggressiveness but from her presence, her ability fill a room by walking in and not even needing to speak.

048\. Shine  
Asuka had never shone brighter in his eyes than the day she walked down the aisle toward him, her white wedding dress flowing around her and failing to match the glow that wrapped around her.

049\. Intent  
Asuka had always known Shinji was a "softy" -as she affectionately thought of him-, but it was never more obvious to her than when they found out the creator of one of his favorite series had died just a month after they saved the world from Third Impact, and she intended to help him honor that man however he chose.

050\. Camping  
They were opposites when it came to the outdoors, Asuka hated the heat of Summer and the cold of Winter, complaining constantly of the Spring rains and the chill and -as she called it- "death" of Autumn; but Shinji enjoyed those times when, with her promise to be less complaining, Asuka would follow him out to the wilds surrounding Tokyo-3 and go camping with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For 33 and how Shinji bolts while Hikari yells, it's an AU where Shinji was more proactive and would have run after Asuka without Hikari yelling at him to go.
> 
> 34 did occur inside Instrumentality.
> 
> Concerning 36: I believe that inspite of Asuka's youth she can very believably be written as someone who has grasped the concept of killing in defense, able to accept the need and reconcile it with her wish to not have to kill. Where as Shinji is more innocent than her, unable to truly grasp the situation, Asuka can accept the necessity and move passed it.


	6. Grave in the Spring

051\. Grave  
Asuka stood beside Shinji as they looked over the carefully placed markers just back from the beach they'd woken on, the names on them familiar and -to them- appropriately placed, all people who -after what they'd seen in Instrumentality- they believed had suffered enough and deserved a point for others to come to and remember them; Ritsuko, Gendo, Yui, Kyoko, Kaji.

052\. Machine  
Just a Machine, she thought, though it was hard to force that thought let alone speak it, for Unit-Two had been her whole existence for nearly as long as she could remember, and only Shinji's constant presence and silent support allowed her to begin letting go of it and start to open up to all the possibilities her future could hold away from the grip of the EVAs.

053\. Destination  
He didn't particularly care where Asuka had decided to lead him, going with her was more important to him than actually getting there, and he knew she felt the same.

054\. Nowhere  
In the infinite abyss of Instrumentality, in all the vast possibilities, Shinji and Asuka made a promise: I would choose you, in this nowhere place, in every lifetime, in every world, in all the possible realities, I'd reach for you and I'd choose you all over again.

055\. Garden  
The last ten seconds were a nightmare, the chaos of combat was all consuming, driving out the happier thoughts of the shared garden in the Spring they planned for and any future they wanted, all replaced with the fire and blood that now occupied their thoughts.

056\. I Know  
Shinji had known -though even years later Asuka never found out how- where she'd gone upon leaving the apartment after the 'battle' with Arael and had followed her there, stopping her before she could slit her wrists, arriving in time to help her -sobbing into his chest- out of the tub in the broken house and back into her clothes before leading her home to start rebuilding herself; he never told her how many times he'd nearly done the same -weeks later- after killing Kaworu when the boy Angel had tried to reach Terminal Dogma, but she had known then too.

057\. Dust  
When the smoke had cleared from their -in her words- epic final confrontation with SEELE's EVA units, Asuka had spent a week simply dusting the small apartment every day, careful and methodical as she moved about each room, and when Shinji had asked why she did it she had smiled, "I always treated you like dust, but never took the time to look beneath my assumptions, so this is to remind me every day that appearances aren't what they seem."

058\. Dream  
"I dreamed of being the best, of forever conquering my tears and insecurities, and on that road I belittled and sneered at other people's sorrows, never considering until it was almost too late that every heart -even mine, though it took longer to acknowledge- is entitled to it's own pain; that our hearts have no metrics or form of measure, and that all of it is irreplaceable."

059\. Destiny  
SEELE had believed that, stripped of their parents and trapped by their connection to the Evangelions, the Children would follow the Destiny that was planned by the Council, but what they didn't account for was the Children choosing to hold to each other; that they could lose their families, their homes, be put where they had nowhere to stand, and yet not care because their sky -their future- could not be taken from them without their consent.

060\. Spring  
The first ten seconds after waking up on the beach in each others arms were the most peaceful they'd ever felt, like a gentle and warm morning wrapping them in a cool breeze as the sun shone down on them from a wonderfully clear sky, the horror of Third Impact and Instrumentality held away for just a little while as they whispered soft assurances to each other of a shared future with a small garden in the Spring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be sure to check out the rest in the series, both Asuka/Touji and Hikari/Kensuke. [H/K is so rare it isn't even listed under "Relationships".] 
> 
> Prompt 54 paraphrases a quote from "The Chaos of Stars". "And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you."
> 
> Prompts 55 and 60 are paired, as should be obvious from the opening words. lol
> 
> Prompt 58 is a nod to the line at the beginning of the White Trailer for RWBY. "Everyone is entitled to their own sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or form of measure. And all of it... Irreplaceable."
> 
> Prompt 59 is a nod to Firefly, and it's opening theme. "Take my Love, Take my Land, Take me where I cannot Stand. I don't Care, I'm still Free, You can't take the Sky from me."


End file.
